The Journal News from White Plains, New York • Page 3

www.thejoumalnews.com Region The Journal News Monday, June 4, 2001 3A Briefing NYC school by far worst sex attacks rate in U.S. 1 i t. Not swayed After letter from King widow, even mom can't dissuade Sharpton from fast The Associated Press NEW YORK The Rev. Al Sharpton's mother tried to convince him yesterday to stop his prison hunger strike, but the activist preacher is pressing on after receiving a letter of support from Coretta Scott King. From Atlanta, the widow of Martin Luther King Jr.

wrote: "Having learned of your imprisonment and fast in protest of the U.S. Navy's bombing exercises on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, I write to express my wholehearted support of your efforts." Sharpton is fasting at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he is serving a 90-day sentence for trespassing on U.S. Navy property during a May 1 protest on Vieques. The Navy has used its range on Vieques, home to 9,400 people, for six decades and says it is vital for national security. Critics say the bombings pose a health threat, which the Navy denies.

Also serving sentences for their roles in the protest are City Councilman Adolfo Carrion, state Assemblyman Jose Rivera and Bronx County Democratic Party chairman Roberto Ramirez. All three were sentenced to 40 days. Sharpton and his wife of 21 years, Kathy, had been scheduled 1 7. The Associated Press NEW YORK Sex attacks in New York City public schools have increased in the last two years to a rate of 10 per week, which is four times the national average, The New York Times reported yesterday. The rate is unusually high, even for the nation's largest school system.

The Times reports the rate of sex attacks on students by other students or by adults is still more than twice the rate for urban schools. The newspaper reviewed local and national statistics. New York City's rate of 37 sex attacks per 100,000 students is more than double the rate for the Los Angeles Unified School District, the country's second largest, according to the newspaper. Los Angeles reported 109 sexual incidents last year, a rate of 15 per 100,000 students. Reported attacks in New York City's schools have increased 13 percent this year to 354 incidents.

Sexual groping, rape and sodomy all are covered under the category of sexual incidents. The Times said experts give several explanations for the city's high rate. They say the number of opportunities for sexual offenses is higher in such a large school system, which has 1.1 million students in 1,189 schools. Experts also say more rigorous reporting methods in New York may account for the difference. Officials from the Board of Ed US The Associated Press Ada Sharpton speaks outside Brooklyn detention center after visiting her son yesterday.

seeking 7-year power rate freeze The 46-year-old activist began his hunger strike Tuesday and said he would subsist solely on liquids until bombing operations on the island ceased. He was lost eight pounds so far, Noerdlinger said. The court decided to expedite a hearing on the men's appeals of their convictions, setting it for tomorrow. adjusted with the spot market," said Gerald Norlander of the Public Utility Law Project an advocacy group for low-income and rural residents. antidote, as proposed to the state Public Service Commission in March, would be to enter into long-term contracts with generators and lock in rates.

The utiltity's 825,000 customers who live around the state, but mostly around Binghamton and central New York would still have the option of switching to another electricity provider. The utility claims there won't be enough new power plants online in New York state before 2008 to stabilize the power market despite predictions to the contrary. "Customers should not be forced to suffer the impacts of the immature wholesale electric market" argues in a policy paper, "They should not become the victims of a ideological experimentation." customers are al ucation and the School Safety Division of the New York City Police department told the Times they believe better cataloging explains the high rate. They also point to the emphasis that Schools Chancellor Harold Levy has placed on reporting incidents since he took over in January 2000. Levy told the Times it's not fair to compare recent city data with national trends, because of differences in reporting and definitions of sexual misconduct.

"Over all, our schools are much safer than the communities in which they exist," Levy told the Times. "That is how it should be. And we are attacking the problem in many different ways, because it should be reduced and eliminated." But he added, "It's not at all obvious to me from my reading of the statistics that there is any real difference between the New York City rate and the rate of cities across the country." Angela Coyle, associate director of the Child Abuse Prevention Program, a nonprofit group that runs training programs for school employees and students in New York City, said the occurrence of sexual offenses in a school "has mostly to do with who runs the school." "If not disciplinary measures, but a sense of control when students walk down the hall and respect and acknowledge the principal, versus not even knowing who she is," she told the Times. electricity prices fall in coming years, customers would be stuck with higher costs. Gavin Donohue, executive director of the group, said companies that take the risk of building new power plants in New York need to know that they will be able to get a fair price for electricity in coming years.

Then there's the issue of the rate is asking to lock in at an average of 13 cents a kilowatt for residential customers. In asking the company to hand over more financial documents in April, the PSC said electricity rates are already high relative to other upstate utilities and expressed concerns about locking in "potentially excessive earnings" for the utility. The PSC is reviewing documents and could make a ruling on the plan by late summer. eliminated in the mid 1980s after a truck and car collided at a toll plaza in Stratford, killing seven. "It was the fact that the toll station was there, even though it was driver error, if it hadn't been there it probably wouldn't have happened," said Sue Reynolds, a spokeswoman for Connecticut's Department of Transportation.

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ot than tatJHiva uwna to renew their wedding vows yesterday at a Harlem church. Instead, she visited him in jail, along with their teen-age daughters, Dominque and Ashley, and his mother, Ada Sharpton. "His mother urged him to go off the fast She was making sure he was healthy, and that he was in good spirits," said Sharpton spokeswoman Rachel No-erdlinger. customers are still insulated from price swings, officials point to price spikes endured by New York City residents last summer and California's notorious energy woes. "Certainly, California has helped bring some of these issues to light," said Clayton Ellis, a spokesman for the Binghamton-based utility.

"We don't want to go through what they're going through." The proposal is attracting attention in a time of tight electricity supplies and fluctuating wholesale electricity prices. Some consumer advocates have called for price caps. Bill Ferris of the state chapter of AARP champions a slightly different plan that would guarantee set rates for a portion of a customer's monthly electric bill. The logic behind these ideas is that retirees and others on fixed incomes need to be able to budget for electric bills. "Folks on low and fixed incomes do not have their incomes The Jersey City mayor holds similar views and has said he would end tolls within nine months of being elected.

A spokesman for McGreevey said the Democrat also hopes to eliminate parkway tolls, but wanted to look closely at the issue before saying how quickly it could be done. On Thursday, Acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco, who dropped The Associated Press ALBANY With electricity prices on a rollercoaster in some areas, one New York utility is trying to lock in the rates it charges customers for seven years. New York State Electric Gas is asking state regulators to approve a plan that would freeze residential and business rates until 2008.

The request comes even as New York discontinues long-term rate deals in favor of tying the retail price of electricity to the open market Critics claim the plan could be unfair to its customers and could harm a young wholesale power market that has already gone through well-publi-' cized growing pains. But officials argue that New York's wholesale energy market is so volatile they compare it to a train without brakes that con- i sumers need to be protected from price swings. While most upstate residential ALBANY Storms damage cars upstate A line of powerful thunderstorms battered the Hudson Valley early yesterday, dumping hail large enough in some parts to dent cars. Pushed to the northeast by winds faster than 50 mph, the storm swept out of northeastern Pennsylvania in the early morning and blew through Ulster, Dutchess and Columbia counties around 9 a.m. In Glenerie Falls, in Ulster County about 45 miles south of Albany, observers reported hail 1.75 inches in diameter, or roughly the size of a golf ball, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Ken LaPenta.

In Kingston, rock-sized hail dented cars, LaPenta said. The storm then turned more to the north, pushing through Albany, Rensselaer and Saratoga counties before again turning east, crossing the Hudson River into Washington County, about 35 miles north of Albany. High winds knocked down a few trees and caused minor, temporary power outages. Sheriffs deputies reported few problems and no injuries. NEW YORK Giuliani has boot while heel heals No, it's not a new fashion craze.

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is sporting a plastic orthopedic boot on his right foot to help ease the pain caused by a tissue inflammation in his heel. Giuliani, who said Saturday he would wear the boot for about a month, is suffering from a condition called plantar fasciitis. "I developed it by not being active during my radiation and hormone treatment," said Giuliani, referring to his treatment for prostate cancer. "I wasn't exercising, playing golf or running." The mayor said he had resumed a normal pace and started exercising. "I did five parades in one week and played golf," he said, noting that the increase in activity may have caused the strain in his foot Diplomats continue to evade parking fines Despite a crackdown on diplomatic parking scofflaws by the Giuliani administration five years ago, foreign officials still park with impunity on city streets, the Daily News reported yesterday.

Figures obtained by the newspaper show diplomats from the 289 missions and consulates in New York racked up more than $21.3 million in penalties and fines on more than 200,000 parking tickets issued between 1997 and 2000. But the city received only $160,682 from tickets issued to an estimated 2,700 vehicles with DPL plates, the newspaper said. The number of tickets issued to diplomats' vehicles has dropped considerably, to 52,000 last year from 160,000 in 1996, but because diplomats pay little or nothing on their backlog of fines, the amount owed to the city has increased to $21.3 million from $15.8 million in 1996. NEWBURGH Weekend gunfire kills man, hurts 2 others One man is dead and two others injured after gunfire erupted Saturday on a city street. Juan Bar-rera, 20, of Newburgh, was charged with second-degree murder after the shootings at 9:35 p.m.

By the time police arrived on the scene, Mario Guevara, 21, of Newburgh, was dead, shot once in the head. Cesar Flo-res, 17, was shot in the buttocks and a third victim, Profirio "Danny" Lopez, 20, was hit in the shoulder. They were taken to St Luke's Hospital. Barrera was held without bail. Compiled from wire reports.

OfimMi ihzff- Tax Deductible Support Patient and Family Services Free Pickup New York antrowitz, Ooldhamer ready covered by a state-negotiated rate deal that expires in 2003. The utility's plan would effectively delay by five years the time when customers would start paying market rates for electricity. Most electric consumers outside the New York City area continue to be insulated from paying market prices for electricity under old-style regulated rate plans. But those plans are set to expire as New York continues to deregulate energy markets. has aggressively promoted its plan, taking out full-page newspaper ads and including on its Web site a "Dear Governor Pataki" form letter for customers to urge its passage.

Others are wary of the plan. State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has expressed concerns about a seven-year plan, which an AG's spokesman described as "an extremely long period of time." The Independent Power Producers of New York claim that if Ingoglia said, and spent about 7 cents of every 35-cent toll on the cost of collection. The rest of the money went to pay maintenance and administrative costs, the state police troop that patrols the 173-mile long highway, or to pay off debt There is precedent elsewhere for ending tolls. In Connecticut, tolls along several highways were N.J. governor hopefuls favor elimination of parkway tolls iitn ski out of the governor's race, told the transportation commissioner he has 60 days to come up with a plan to eliminate the toll barriers on the highway.

"My goal is to remove the tolls," DiFrancesco said. Highway officials are examining a plan to give motorists a toll-free Labor Day. The parkway collected $190.9 million in toll revenues last year, Tf iitm S3 -uxi) ixtiiiljiij t. The Associated Press TRENTON, J. John Millett came to hate tolls when he was the owner of a faltering truck and was forced to stop every 10 miles or so to drop 35 cents into a basket on the Garden State Parkway.

"Every time we'd stop at a toll booth, our truck would conk out" said Millett, who is now secretary of Citizens Against Tolls, a grassroots organization whose members are working to eliminate tolls on the Parkway. They're not the only ones. The movement to end Parkway tolls has shifted in recent months from a somewhat unlikely proposition to a campaign issue in this year's gubernatorial election. Republican candidates Bob Franks and Bret Schundler have promised to end them if elected. Democrat Jim McGreevey also has said he wants them eliminated.

"Bob believes the current toll collection system on the parkway simply doesn't work," said Franks spokesman Charlie Smith. finite nin nm Research We Do All The Work can sockir New Jersey am NEXTEL Handsome Hal's 61 Kle. 59, Nanuet (845)627-1261 Open Sundayi: 11-4 Nanuet Only 214 Inc MOTOROLA. Tli Slyli. Uga Inc Kma Pa, Tm.

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